Moments Make Life
by Halfblood With A SIG And A Pen
Summary: Moments in the lives of our favorite characters. What made them who they are today? Series of Oneshots. Prompts will always be appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

**I was watching Agents of SHIELD and it said "Particle accelerator explodes" and after a moment of completely freaking out I realized that this is a different comic universe. What the heck, Marvel?**

 **Prompts are always appreciated.**

They knew it was coming, but that didn't make it any easier. Nothing could make it easier. She was only six years old, far too young to lose her mother.

Her mother had been sick for a long time, in and out of the hospital, but a six year old can hold onto hope for a long time. Iris knew her mother would not be coming home again, but she also knew her mother would never have to go to the hospital again. Her mother hated the hospital.

She hadn't heard a word at the viewing or the funeral. She didn't hear the trumpets sounding or the condolences given. Everything around her was a blur.

Iris held her father's hand as she watched her mother's casket slowly lowered into the earth. Fresh tears flowed down old paths on her cheeks.

She knew her father's face mirrored her own without looking up at him. Iris couldn't coax her eyes away from the casket now six feet into the ground. It would just be her and her father from now on.

Barry stood slightly away from the crowd. He could see that Iris was in pain. She had been in pain since her mom had gotten sick, but now Iris seemed worse. All Barry could think about was going over to her and wrapping her in a hug. Telling her that everything was going to be okay, but he knew he couldn't promise that, and he couldn't lie to her like that. Iris was his best friend, he couldn't bear to see her in pain.

Joe didn't know what to do. He had lost his wife. The woman he loved. But his daughter had just lost her mother. How could he grieve and take care of his daughter at the same time?

 _Barry_.

Barry was a good kid, and he cared about Iris. Joe could see him out of the corner of his eye. He could see how badly the kid wanted to run to Iris's side. Iris was lucky to have a friend like Barry, but it was not lost on Joe how lucky he was that Iris had Barry.

Soon only Joe, Iris, and the Allens left at the gravesite. Iris finally tore her eyes away from the where her mother now laid buried beneath six feet of dirt. She saw Barry standing there and reached her hand out toward him. Immediately he was by her side. She had never seen him run so fast. His arms were outstretched, and she fell into them, needing to feel the warmth and light that was her best friend.

She was grateful for his silent comfort. He just held her close instead of telling her everything would be okay like the grownups did. He was young, but she knew things would never be the same.

Joe looked over to Barry's parents silently asking if he could keep Barry for a little while. Nora nodded, and Barry's parents left the cemetery.

Joe knelt to the ground, knowing that his daughter was currently in good hands.


	2. Chapter 2

**Prompt from IShipIt87. Barry and Iris confess to each other after coming back from college, since they were apart from each other for the first time and realized their feelings for each other are more than just friends.**

Barry was pretty sure he was annoying the person across from him on the train. Shaking with excitement and fear, he sat impatiently. The woman sitting across from him had looked over at him and sighed about three times, but he couldn't help himself.

He had finally finished college. He hopped on the first train going the right direction and switched trains as many times as he had to, to get home as fast as possible. Barry could feel his courage fading with every passing minute, and he couldn't afford not to tell Iris. He had already waited years to tell her because he was afraid. Afraid that she wouldn't feel the same way because he couldn't bear to lose his best friend. Afraid that his feelings weren't as strong as he thought because he might hurt her. He no longer had to fear his feelings. He had hated his time away from her. He missed her too much to still doubt his own feelings.

Right now, he just feared waiting too long and missing his chance. He could lose her that way too.

Iris had spent practically the whole day pacing. She hadn't eaten anything. She could tell her father was worried, but he hadn't asked why she was so anxious, which she was grateful for.

"Hey, Baby, Barry should be here any minute." Joe called up the stairs.

Normally Iris would run down the stairs and watch out the window until he came into view. Then she would run out to greet him. That's what she had done every time he had come home. She didn't want him to think anything was wrong, so she made her way down the stairs.

Nothing was wrong, but she had spent the whole day praying things were about to get a whole lot better. Though if she was honest with herself, she had to admit she could ruin one of the best things in her life today. No words could describe how nervous she was. She was fairly certain nothing could make her lose Barry, but if anything could, it would be this.

To her it felt like she waited two hours for Barry's cab to come down the street, but in reality he arrived about five minutes after Joe called her down. Like always she ran out the door to greet him.

Both of their fears had been temporarily replaced by the excitement of seeing their best friend again.

Iris ran, and Barry caught her in his arms. He spun her around. Neither of them found it weird that they looked like a couple out of a cheesy romance movie.

 _It's now or never. Don't let it be never._ Barry thought to himself.

"I love you, Iris." He whispered in her ear for just her to hear. The next second felt like an eternity before she stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him. She smiled against his lips.

"I love you too, Bear." She replied when they finally separated.

Joe watched from the window and laughed as his two kids finally admitted what he had known for years.


	3. Chapter 3

She knew something was wrong before her phone even rang.

Iris had never been afraid of thunderstorms. The days when there were thunderstorms, were her and Barry's marathon days. But this storm was different. Iris didn't understand why, but this storm terrified her. She needed to get to Barry. He'd tease her a little for being afraid of a thunderstorm, but once he realized how scared she was, he'd simply hold her and reassure her.

Then it happened.

She heard the thunder crack, and something inside her snapped. She knew beyond a doubt that her Barry was hurt. She hadn't seen where the lightning had struck, but she didn't need to, she knew it had been at the precinct. It had struck Barry.

Iris could hear her phone buzz in her purse, and she knew it would be her father calling to tell her to go to the hospital, but Iris took off running in the direction of the precinct. She wasn't very far away so she arrived about the same time as the ambulance.

"Barry!" She screamed, drawing part of her father's attention. She ran to where they were lifting Barry's unconscious body into the back of the ambulance.

"Sorry ma'am only immediate family members. You'll have to follow behind us." The doctor gave her a sympathetic glance before pulling the doors closed.

She wanted to argue, to yell at them that she was family, but an outburst like that would only keep Barry away from the hospital and treatment he needed, so Iris let them go.

If not for her father's strong grip on her shoulders, she would have fallen to the ground. The adrenaline that had carried her down the street to the precinct had abandoned her. All she could feel now was fear, pain, sadness, exhaustion, and loss, but she refused to admit the last one, not yet.

Her father gently tugged on her shoulders. "Baby, I'm going to the hospital, are you going to come with me?"

She squeezed his outstretched hand. Joe held onto her all the way to the car. Iris knew it was only partially to make sure she made it to the car, and partially his need to keep a hold on his other child. He felt helpless with Barry, but he could take care of Iris.

Joe made use of his police siren to get to the hospital only moments after the ambulance. Iris found herself able to move again as she chased after the doctors who wheeled Barry into the hospital.

"He was struck by lightning." One doctor called out to the others.

"How is he still alive?" Another doctor exclaimed. That reaction scared Iris almost as much as the rest of the situation.

She could not lose Barry. She just couldn't handle that.

The doctors wheeled him into a room with lots of windows into the hallway and started hooking him up to machines.

Iris tried to follow the medical staff inside, but she was held back by a nurse.

"You can't be in here." The nurse told her.

"I'm family." Iris cried out while the tears finally started streaming down her face, where they had previously been held back by shock.

Then the situation that Iris didn't think could get worse, did. The power went out all around the hospital, but she could hear the machine's blaring note telling her that Barry was dead. His heart had stopped beating. The heart that had seen too much darkness to be as light as it was no longer working.

Iris could see the doctors rushing around trying to revive him, though the images were blurred by her tears. Eventually the machine stopped ringing as his heart beat returned, but the noise continued to ring in Iris's mind. She wasn't sure the sound of her best friend dying would ever leave her.

The second time Barry's heart stopped they had restarted it by the time she realized the noise was no longer just inside her head.

Nine months later, and Iris still has nightmares about that night. She still hears the continuous beep of Barry's heart flat lining.

Every day she thought t herself, today could be the day. Barry could wake up. Barry could come back to her. But it never was. Until today.

She was pouring coffee for a frequent customer when she saw a man that looked like Barry walk towards the coffee shop. She looked up as he walked inside and gasped. Today was the day. She set the coffee pot on the table and ran into her best friend's arms.


End file.
